Alcatraz: From Seabird Sanctuary to Fortress of Justice

Before it became the most infamous prison in America, Alcatraz Island was just a jagged hunk of sandstone and guano. Rising from the San Francisco Bay, this 22-acre island bore witness to centuries of transformation—shaped by explorers, armies, and eventually the weight of America’s criminal justice system.

The Spanish Discovery – 1775

Alcatraz first entered the historical record in 1775, when Spanish naval officer Juan Manuel de Ayala charted the San Francisco Bay. He named one of the islands La Isla de los Alcatraces—“The Island of the Pelicans”—due to the large numbers of seabirds that nested there. The name eventually migrated to the island we now call Alcatraz.

While the Spanish established missions and settlements across California, Alcatraz remained largely untouched. It had no fresh water, poor soil, and no obvious resources. For decades, it sat forgotten—windswept, guano-streaked, and home to only birds.

The American Era Begins – 1846–1850

The United States claimed California in 1846, during the Mexican-American War. Just two years later, the Gold Rush erupted, and the tiny town of San Francisco exploded into a bustling gateway to the West. The federal government, wary of threats to its booming port, began surveying Alcatraz as a strategic military site.

In 1850, President Millard Fillmore signed an executive order reserving Alcatraz for military use. Almost immediately, the U.S. Army began construction of a fortress. By the late 1850s, Alcatraz boasted over 100 cannons and a lighthouse—the first one built on the Pacific Coast. It was part of the “Triangle of Defense” for the Bay, alongside Fort Point and Lime Point.

Birth of a Military Prison – 1861

As the Civil War broke out in 1861, Alcatraz’s role shifted. Though no Confederate forces ever attacked San Francisco, the fort remained on high alert. Meanwhile, the island’s isolation proved useful for another purpose: confinement. Union soldiers accused of desertion, insubordination, or other crimes were shipped to Alcatraz.

By the 1870s, Alcatraz had become the official military prison for the Department of the Pacific. Wooden barracks were replaced with permanent brick and stone buildings, and by the turn of the century, it was the most secure military prison in the U.S.

Transformation into a Federal Penitentiary – 1934

In 1933, amid the chaos of the Great Depression and a rise in high-profile crime, the U.S. Department of Justice took control of Alcatraz. They saw the isolated island as the perfect location for a new kind of prison: one that would house the most dangerous federal inmates—the escape artists, the gang leaders, the “public enemies.”

By August 1934, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary opened its gates. It was unlike any other. Its first warden, James A. Johnston, ran a strict but relatively humane regime. No rehabilitation programs, no group meals, no luxuries. Just a simple mantra: “You break the rules, you go to Alcatraz.”

Over the next 29 years, Alcatraz housed some of the era’s most notorious figures—Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Robert Stroud, the “Birdman.” But no one ever definitively escaped. The frigid waters, swift currents, and 1.25-mile distance from shore made escape nearly impossible—though several daring attempts were made.

The End of the Line – 1963 and Beyond

By the 1950s, the infrastructure of Alcatraz was crumbling, and its operation was expensive—three times the cost of other federal prisons. In March 1963, the penitentiary officially closed.

But Alcatraz wasn’t done making history.

In 1969, a group of Native American activists occupied the island, invoking an 1868 treaty that allowed Indigenous people to claim unused federal land. The occupation lasted 19 months and sparked national dialogue about Indigenous rights.

Today, Alcatraz is a national historic site visited by over a million people each year. It stands as a stark monument to shifting ideologies about punishment, justice, and power—and the raw, untamable history of the American West.